The early results of the Infant Feeding Survey of 2010 have just been published. This was based on questionnaires returned from almost 16 thousand mothers across the UK. In Wales, this meant that all births within the time period {9 August – 17 October 2010} were selected for study... though not all returned the questionnaire, of course!
Further results are forthcoming, based on later questionnaires. This will tell us how many women continued to breastfeed, and roughly for how long. These early results show how many women initiated breastfeeding. In some case this may only be feeding for a few days - but "Every Drop Counts".
Initial breastfeeding rates in 2010 were 71% in Wales. There has been a significant increase in the incidence of breastfeeding since 2005 in Wales (when initial breastfeeding rates were 67%).
The initial breastfeeding rate increased from 76% in 2005 to 81% in 2010 in the UK overall.
A target set, however, was a rise of 2% per year Clearly this has not been achieved.
Breakdown of the results
A breakdown of the 2010 survey results showed that mothers with their first baby were the most likely to initiate breastfeeding (74% in Wales, compared with 67% for mothers of later babies).
The rates were 84% and 78%, in the UK overall.
Further examination of the figures revealed breastfeeding rates varying with socio-economic group, education level, and age, as well as with birth order.
In Wales, only 50% of mothers under 20 initiated breastfeeding in 2010.
Smoking in Pregnancy
Also in tandem with this survey – results showed that Wales had the highest rate of women who smoked during pregnancy (16%), compared with 12% in the UK overall.
Further reading
You may like to read more about the rates revealed by the 2005 Infant Feeding Survey. - try this page on Flintshire Feeders.
Fuller information on the infant feeding survey 2010 is available from this pdf report, or from the publishing body, the NHS Information Centre.
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